


into a cloven pine

by justbecauseyoubelievesomething



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Angst, Chopped Madness, F/F, Medical Torture, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Strangers to Lovers, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:34:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23235535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justbecauseyoubelievesomething/pseuds/justbecauseyoubelievesomething
Summary: Maya starts sitting with her at meals, shrugging aside the judgmental looks of delinquents and Mountain Men alike. When Harper tries to delicately suggest that she sit somewhere else for her own good, Maya levels her with an icy glare and threatens to kick her under the table.For some reason, that makes Harper giggle and she figures that someone who makes her giggle must be alright to sit with.So, she ignores Miller’s warning head shakes and Fox’s teary-eyed frowns and she plays footsie with Maya Vie.Life is weird. She might as well just go with it.
Relationships: Harper McIntyre/Maya Vie
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15
Collections: Chopped Madness





	into a cloven pine

When Harper haphazardly tosses her bag into the back of the Rover and climbs up into the front seat with a chorus of creaks and a slammed door, she’s not expecting Maya to climb into the seat next to her.

“What are you doing?”

Harper tightens her hands around the steering wheel until her knuckles go white. “What do you think?”

Maya eyes her delicately, as if even her gaze will shatter Harper to pieces. “I think you need to stop running away.”

“Fuck off.”

Maya keeps her stare locked with Harper’s as she reaches behind her and yanks the door shut.

Harper’s gaze softens. “Seriously, Maya. Don’t.”

“I’m not letting you do this by yourself. You still need me.”

She can’t argue with that. She reluctantly starts the Rover, cringing at the sound of the engine loudly turning over. No going back now.

“You can still stay. They’ll all understand. They want to help you,” Maya says gently, always able to read her mind.

“You gave me all the help I needed,” Harper muttered, yanking at the shift stick. To her credit, Maya doesn’t answer.

A few Arkadian residents, curious about the noise, start straggling into the garage. Harper hits the gas and the Rover screeches from the garage and out through Arkadia’s open gate before more than two or three onlookers can gather.

“Shit.” Raven’s two driving lessons were sufficient, but Harper still wasn’t used to the jumpiness of the gas pedal. She carefully eased back.

Maya smirks wryly. “Smooth driving.”

“Shut up.”

“You know you can’t make me.”

Harper leans back against her seat with a heavy sigh, focusing on the path cut by the headlights through the night landscape. This was going to be a long drive.

_ When Harper wakes up in the white room, her first thought is that she must be dead. She scrunches her fists tightly in the rough covers, trying to keep her breaths even. _

_ The last thing she remembers is the Dropship. The ring of fire. Grounders burned to a fine layer of ash. _

_ Then violent, red smoke and darkness. _

_ The bare white walls of her room press down on her. It’s a constricting cage, after the freedom of the forest. She takes another deep breath and tastes sterile citrus on the back of her tongue. _

_ She needs to move. _

_ She wiggles her toes and then carefully shifts her legs side to side, bunching up her blankets even more. Everything seems to be working. A slight tugging sensation in her arm, draws her attention to an IV at her side. She tries to read the lettering on the plastic bag of liquid, but she’s no doctor like Clarke. She has no idea what this stuff is. _

_ She decides reluctantly that it’s probably better not to yank it out and instead leans back against her pillows again. Even with her eyes closed, the whiteness presses at her eyeballs. She imagines the walls drawing closer and closer, threatening to swallow her entirely. She’s nothing but a black speck inside a small cube of light. The light is trying to wash her out, erase her, imprison her forever and ever and ever…. _

_ “Hey, hey!” _

_ Harper’s eyelids fly open. There’s someone dressed in something akin to a space suit, shaking her. _

_ “Hey, are you okay?” the figure yells, muffled behind their face mask. _

_ Harper belatedly realizes that every muscle is tense and she’s shaking so hard that her teeth are chattering. _

_ She manages a nod, but her throat muscles are locked so tightly she can’t say anything. She can’t even scream as the mysterious person pins her shoulders against the mattress. _

_ “Listen to me please!” the person shouts. “You’re okay. Everything is okay!” _

_ Harper wonders how long she’s been like this. How long has she been trapped in this little white room? Her mind starts to wander again. _

_ “Focus!” Even behind the mask, the person’s voice is sharp enough to yank Harper from her clouded thoughts. “Stay with me! You’re having a panic attack. You just need to take deep breaths.” _

_ Deep breaths. She can manage deep breaths. _

_ She focuses on the rise and fall of her chest muscles, trying to ignore the fact that she has some sort of spacewalker wannabe pinning her to the bed. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. _

_ The figure on top of her is nodding slowly. “Good, good. Keep doing that. I’m going to move now, okay? I’m just checking your radiation levels.” _

_ Radiation levels? _

_ Harper doesn’t have time to ask before the figure slides off her. Harper decides to concentrate on the breathing. That’s hard enough. _

_ She thinks maybe ten minutes pass before the pain in her chest starts to ease. It only draws her attention abruptly to the pain in the rest of her body. She slowly unclenches her fists and flexes her hands, wincing at the stiffness. She mentally travels through her body, forcing each muscle to relax. _

_ “I’m going to take this off now, okay?” The masked figure is standing by her side again. “You’ve been decontaminated. I checked all the levels.” _

_ “I don’t know what that means,” Harper grunts. _

_ The figure hesitates. “I’ll explain everything, but I’m going to take this off first, okay?” _

_ Harper nods and the figure carefully eases off their mask and hood. A mass of dark curls springs free and the girl shakes them back to lay against her shoulders. Her skin is pale, almost white, but her dark eyes are bright in their own way. _

_ “I’m Maya. Welcome to Mount Weather.” _

The sun is shining, making it perfect driving weather for the solar-powered Rover. Maya’s mp3 player is plugged into the dash, filling the car with upbeat drum fills and driving bass lines for hours on end. Harper cranks the radio, screaming the lyrics until her throat is raw while Maya laughs at her.

They drive south, no goal in mind except freedom. Away from people and expectations and the cloying sweetness of everyone trying and failing to help her. Harper can finally breathe again.

They pass abandoned villages and stock up on supplies. Harper feels pangs of guilt as she plunders the belongings of the dead, but the food is rotting away anyways. And as Maya gently reminds her, she needs to eat.

They finally work their way to the southernmost border of Trikru territory and Harper secretly breathes a sigh of relief. The last reminders of war are officially behind her.

Maya likes to stand while Harper drives, with her head thrown out the sunroof so that she can soak in every last drop of sunshine and fresh air. Harper only smiles and shakes her head, not able to deny her such a small pleasure after so much of her life was spent locked away.

When Maya ducks back down into the cab, with her dark hair tousled into a nest of knots and her eyes gleaming with joy, Harper has to forcibly remind herself that she can’t lean over and kiss her.

It gets harder and harder to remind herself why.

More than once, her hand itches to reach over and brush Maya’s fingertips. Just a small stretch and she could feel her skin, warm against her palm.

But she can’t. They hang in a delicate balance, a house of cards, one breath from falling apart. Harper can’t bring herself to be the one who burns the whole thing down. Not when this is the closest to happiness she’s been in a long time.

_ The dorm room is in an uproar. Harper slides from her bunk and catches Miller by the arm. _

_ “What’s going on?” _

_ His eyes are alight with fear. “They shot Clarke.” _

_ “What?!” _

_ Several of the delinquents are starting to argue loudly as the news spreads and Fox abruptly bursts into tears. Harper elbows her way through the crowd to the door where Jasper is standing with Monty, paler than a ghost. _

_ “What happened?” she demands. _

_ Jasper swallows and licks his lips. “She… she shot Clarke. I was there. I saw it,” he says faintly. _

_ Monty looks furious. “I knew something was off. Clarke was right. She was right! I knew it.” _

_ Harper tries to zone out Monty’s rambling, taking Jasper’s hands and squeezing them tightly. “Who shot Clarke, Jasper?” she asks, keeping her voice steady. _

_ His eyes focus on her for a brief second. “Maya.” _

_ Maya. The girl who welcomed her to Mount Weather not three days earlier. The girl who helped her through a panic attack. _

_ She shot Clarke? _

_ “Where is she?” The question leaves Harper’s mouth before she can formulate a plan. _

_ Jasper takes a shaky breath. “I… she was debriefing with Dante… they told me to leave.” _

_ Harper slips out of the dorm and away from the steadily growing outrage of the delinquents. A weight sits at the back of her throat. _

_ They shot Clarke. No…  _ **_she_ ** _ shot Clarke. Why does that make it so much worse? _

_ By the time she finds her way through the maze of Mount Weather hallways to Dante’s office, Maya is being escorted through the door. _

_ Dante has a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure I can’t walk you home?” _

_ “No, no I’m alright,” the girl says. She’s standing straight, although her eyes are rimmed with red. _

_ “I’m proud of you, Maya,” the old man continues. “You made a difficult decision and you did the right thing to protect your people.” _

_ She nods absently at his words and he gives her shoulder one more squeeze before turning back into his office, completely ignoring Harper. _

_ As soon as the old man vanishes, Harper takes a tentative step forward. _

_ “Maya?” _

_ The girl looks up and flinches back sharply. “Please don’t hurt me!” _

_ “I’m not…” Harper looks down at her outstretched hand and carefully lowers it to her side. “I’m not going to hurt you.” _

_ Maya sniffs and tenses her shoulders. “Your… your.. leader… she was going to open the door. She was going to kill us all.. I had to… I had to…” _

_ Harper takes another tentative step. She can imagine the scene playing out. Clarke desperate to escape, spurred on by irrational fear. Maya shakily holding up the gun, thin voice calling out for her to stop. A warning that brushes past Clarke’s ears like a faint breeze. _

_ The echo of the gunshot. _

_ “I… I understand.” _

_ Maya’s hooded gaze is suspicious. “How?” _

_ Harper shrugs. “She wanted to protect her people. You wanted to protect yours. Unbeatable force meets immovable object.” _

_ Maya narrows her gaze, but her shoulders relax a fraction. “Aren’t you upset?” _

_ Harper swallows back the lump in her throat before it can choke her. “Yes.” _

_ She thinks back to the Grounders and the war. How it felt to hold a gun in her hands and watch the bodies fall at the slightest pull of her trigger. _

_ “I just… I wanted to make sure you were okay too.” _

_ “Me?” _

_ “Yes… killing someone changes you.” _

_ Maya crosses her arms close to her chest as if holding herself together. _

_ “And you would know?” _

_ Harper just raises an eyebrow at her and a flicker of understanding passes between them. _

_ “Well, the rest of your people are pissed at me,” Maya mutters softly. _

_ “Oh, don’t get me wrong, so am I,” Harper says quickly and Maya actually laughs out loud. _

_ It’s a good sound. A sound Harper wishes she could hear again. _

__

_ The suspicion cuts both ways as the weeks pass. The delinquents are on edge, even though the Clarke incident seems to remain an isolated event. The Mountain Men are even less trusting. Mealtimes are punctuated by glares and snatches of whispered gossip whenever the delinquents enter the room. Harper gets used to living with the feeling of being constantly watched. _

_ Jasper and Monty don’t take to the new environment well. They murmur to each other in low tones as they pass dessert back and forth. Several times, Harper walks into the dormitory to find them seated on the same bunk, knees pressed together as they talk so quietly that she can’t make out their words over the sound of the radio. _

_ She tries not to mind being left out. _

_ Maya starts sitting with her at meals, shrugging aside the judgmental looks of delinquents and Mountain Men alike. When Harper tries to delicately suggest that she sit somewhere else for her own good, Maya levels her with an icy glare and threatens to kick her under the table. _

_ For some reason, that makes Harper giggle and she figures that someone who makes her giggle must be alright to sit with. _

_ So, she ignores Miller’s warning head shakes and Fox’s teary-eyed frowns and she plays footsie with Maya Vie. _

_ Life is weird. She might as well just go with it. _

_ Maya holds a finger to her lips one night and pulls her through the hallways until they come into a vast warehouse filled with antiquities of all kinds. Maya likes the paintings, but Harper is fascinated by the sculptures. The likeness of humans captured in perfect, immortal stone. She imagines the living, breathing models trapped inside, trying to scream through mummified lips. When she tells Maya, instead of laughing at her strange thoughts, Maya tips her head thoughtfully and just absorbs it all. _

_ Maya listens. That might be the best thing about her. _

_ They share the earbuds to Maya’s mp3 player and when the mountain girl plays a love song and smiles innocently, Harper feels her heart beat dangerously fast. Like another damned panic attack, but one that makes her warm to the tips of her toes. _

_ She’s pretty sure she’s in love with Maya. _

_ When she wakes up after the fourth week to another uproar in the dormitory, she rubs the sleepiness from her eyes and stumbles towards the door, looking for Jasper and Monty to explain. Instead, she runs into Miller again and catches herself on his arm. _

_ “What’s going on?” she asks, barely stifling a yawn. _

_ He gives her a disdainful glare and shoves her away. _

_ “Jasper and Monty are gone. We have no idea where they went,” he spits and it’s like cold water down her back. _

_ “Gone?” _

_ “Yeah. Why don’t you try asking your girlfriend about that one?” _

Harper thinks she’s hallucinating. They haven’t seen a person for days.

But walking along, in broad daylight, she can just make out a lone figure up ahead. She slows the Rover to a crawl, an unwelcome fear skittering across her nerves.

Even Maya looks pensive.

“Be careful,” she whispers and Harper nods.

She keeps their speed slow as they draw closer to the person, trying not to startle them. The outline begins to fill in the closer they get: the strong shoulders, the gun slung easily from her hip, the long blonde braid bouncing between her shoulder blades. Still Harper refuses to believe it until she draws even with the girl and stops the Rover entirely.

The girl stops too and for just a moment they stare at each other, blinking in disbelief.

“Clarke?”

_ “Come on, come on!” _

_ Maya hustles her through the medical ward and into a dark closet, quickly shutting the door behind them. _

_ “Hey, if you wanted to get me alone, all you had to do was ask,” Harper tries to joke, but her voice falls flat. _

_ Maya shakes her head, lip trembling. “I need to show you something.” _

_ She beckons Harper forward to the wall, where a large ventilation shaft of some kind is covered by a grate. _

_ Nothing could have prepared Harper for the sight of the Grounders hanging upside down like human blood bags. She’s reminded of the IV in her arm when she first arrived and has to clench her throat muscles to keep from retching. _

_ “What the fuck, Maya?” _

_ “I know. I know. It’s… it’s terrible. We’re monsters. I know!” Maya’s voice pitches dangerously upwards and then she turns and paces away, hands in her hair as she tries to reign herself back. _

_ Harper leans away from the grate, cutting off the unwelcome sight. _

_ “Is that what happened to Jasper and Monty?” she asks, voice hard as steel. Inside, she feels numb, like she’s watching this happen to someone else. _

_ Maya turns back to her, eyes wild, cheeks even paler than usual. “I don’t know. Harper, please believe me… I just don’t know…” _

_ Harper wants to slap her, scream in her face, maybe cry. _

_ Instead, she slumps down to the floor, letting her back thump heavily against the wall. The world is spinning, and she just needs to sit down for two seconds. _

_ Maya hesitantly lowers herself to a crouch next to Harper, but she doesn’t reach out for her. _

_ The silence between them speaks volumes. _

_ “This is what’s going to happen to all of us,” Harper says weakly. It’s not a question. _

_ Maya twists her fingers together, unable to look Harper in the eye. _

_ Harper feels cold fear wash out her remaining anger. She imagines the inevitability of being drugged and flipped upside down, blood slowly draining drop by drop until every limb is ice cold. A living statue, not even able to scream for help. _

_ “What do we do?” she pleads with no one in particular. There’s no possible answer for this dilemma. They’re all going to die. _

_ But then Maya is gripping her hand and she’s warm and solid and Harper feels the whirlwind of panic slow to a halt. _

_ “I’m going to get you out of here,” Maya whispers fiercely. Her eyes glow even in the dim room. “I’m going to save you.” _

_ Harper decides there are a lot of ways to say I love you, but none so beautiful as the way Maya’s voice lingers with fire on her declaration. So beautiful that Harper can’t help but grab Maya by the shoulders and pull her into a long overdue kiss. _

__

“You _ lied _ to me!”

“Turn around and go talk to her, Harper!”

“You lied  _ to me _ !”

Her foot is on the gas and the tires are tearing across the grassy landscape. The mp3 player rolls over to a new song and Harper rips the cord out and tosses it on the floor.

Maya clenches her fingers tightly around the edge of her seat.

“Stop, Harper! Just stop!”

She wants to turn and look Maya in the eyes. To be able to scream at her with every fiber of her being and ask her why. Why the lies? From day one? Why, why, why?

But she’s playing with fire and she’s a breath away from being irreparably burned. So, she keeps the gas pedal on the floor and speeds away from Clarke Griffin without looking back.

She has enough ghosts in her life. She can’t face more. She can’t look at Clarke and see all the war, the pain, the deaths…

“What happened to Jasper and Monty?” she growls.

Maya doesn’t answer and Harper throws the mp3 player at her. It ends up bouncing harmlessly off the door.

“What happened to them?” she screams.

“They died!” Maya snaps. Finally, a blush of anger works its way up her cheeks. She’s not as pale after weeks outdoors. Her skin is starting to take on a sun-tinged hue and a smattering of freckles dots the bridge of her nose.

“They died, Harper! You know it!”

“How can I trust anything you tell me?”

“I never lied to you!”

Harper slams her foot on the brakes and the back of the Rover shifts abruptly, sending them into a whirling spiral. Clods of earth and grass go flying as they spin three times and come to a shuddering stop.

Harper shakily presses her lips together and stares straight ahead. “You lied to me about the treatments. The bone marrow. You can’t say you never lied to me about that.”

Maya stays silent for a few moments. The engine hums softly and a few birds swoop by singing a light pattern of notes. Harper focuses on the movement of her chest. Deep breaths in. Deep breaths out.

“I didn’t lie to you about Clarke,” Maya finally says. “I did shoot her.”

Harper scoffs.

“I did!” Maya turns toward her earnestly. Harper knows she can’t look at her. Not if she wants to keep her resolve. “But you won’t know the truth unless you go back there and ask her.”

“Maya…”

“The Harper I know would never leave a friend behind. Not like this.”

Harper bristles. “You know I can’t… I can’t face this… After everyone who died… and the war… How am I supposed to face that?”

“And how do you think she feels?”

Harper listens to the birds and the sound of the breeze stirring the grasses and a sharp sob escapes her throat as she throws the Rover back into gear and turns it around.

Maya lays her hand on the shoulder of Harper’s chair, still not quite close enough to touch her, and smiles.

_ Nothing had ever gone wrong quite so quickly. They had a plan. The radio was planted, the call was going out, Harper was even letting herself feel hopeful. _

_ Then it was over. _

_ Gloved hands press themselves against her arms and over her mouth hard enough to leave bruises. Harper wants to scream, but they slap a strong-smelling cloth over her lips and nose and then there’s spiraling darkness. _

_ She wakes up in a cage. Cold metal bites into her bare skin. _

_ There’s a bed. To call it a bed is generous, really. _

_ The doctor, in her clicking heels and pure white coat, runs tests. Thousands of tests. Constantly pricking her for more blood. _

_ Harper is cold. _

_ She wants to see Maya. Or even Miller. _

_ They want her blood. _

_ Cage comes in at some point and he talks with the doctor in hushed tones. They look at pages and pages of numbers with growing excitement. _

_ Harper’s not an idiot. She knows this is bad. _

_ Deep breath in. Deep breath out. _

_ Maya will come for her. _

_ They drill her. She’s still awake when they strap her face down to the bed. They need bone marrow, not blood. So, they use a long, shiny bit of metal and drill into her bones as she screams and screams and screams. _

_ Her life becomes a never-ending shadow realm, where she drifts in and out of greater and lesser degrees of pain. Tries to remember to breathe. _

_ The cage is so small. _

_ “Harper?” _

_ She lifts her head and through blurry vision can just make out Maya’s worried face, her eyes filled with tears. _

_ “I’m okay,” Harper tries to say, but she’s not sure if all the words come out. She doesn’t want to see Maya cry. _

_ Maya reaches through the bars of the cage and even the smallest touch of her fingers makes Harper relax just a little bit. _

_ “I’m okay,” she says again. “Now that you’re here.” _

_ “I’m going to get you out,” Maya whispers. She looks around furtively and Harper realizes that Maya’s in danger. _

_ She struggles to talk. “Maya… you need… go… just go… please, Maya…” _

_ “Shhh….” Maya presses her other hand flat against the cage. “The bone marrow treatments are letting them survive outside the mountain. But your people are trying to get inside to find you. They heard the radio call.” _

_ A tiny flicker of hope. _

_ “I’m going to get you out soon,” Maya promises. She’s practically clinging to the side of the cage now, as if the heat of her body can melt away the bars. “Very, very soon. Just hang on.” _

_ “What about you?” Harper asks. She doesn’t want to leave without Maya. _

_ Maya gives her a wan smile. “Let’s focus on getting you out first.” _

_ “Wait, no…” Harper pushes through the fog in her brain. “They’ll know if you start helping. Cage will know it was you.” _

_ Maya’s smile remains steady, but Harper knows she knows. _

_ “Damn it, Maya. Please we need to…” _

_ She scrambles for an idea and plucks the first one out of thin air. _

_ “The bone marrow treatments make it so you can survive outside, right? So, find a way to get some. Take mine. Then we can get out together!” _

_ Maya is shaking her head before Harper finishes talking. “You know I won’t do that.” _

_ “Please, Maya. Please…” _

_ “Harper…” _

_ “I can’t do this without you!” _

_ They hold stares for a moment, neither one backing down then Maya sighs and looks away. _

_ “Okay.” _

_ “Okay?” _

_ “I’ll… I’ll come with you.” _

_ Harper pushes herself up to the bars. “Promise me.” _

_ Maya looks back at her, all fire. “I promise.” _

_ She can’t kiss her through the cage, so she settles for brushing her fingertips gratefully. _

_ “I have to go now,” Maya says softly. “Just hold on, okay?” _

_ “I will,” Harper promises. _

_ For Maya, she can hold on forever. _

Harper shuts the Rover off and drops heavily through the door.

Maya stays in her seat and Harper understands. This is between her and Clarke.

She approaches the blonde girl with a cross between anger and fear.

Clarke for her part looks apologetic.

“Harper…”

Harper holds up her hand and Clarke cuts herself short.

“Just tell me the truth.”

Clarke firms her chin. “Maya shot me. Then she helped me escape the medical ward. To go warn our people.”

Harper swallows thickly. “Then what?”

Clarke hesitates. “War,” she says softly, but Harper already knew that part. War with the Grounders when they refused to help rescue the prisoners from Mount Weather. A long and bloody war that took too long. Far, far too long.

“They killed us. They killed us while you… while all of you…” Harper stops. Sucks in a deep breath.

Clarke is nodding. “I know. I wasn’t fast enough. I should have been faster.”

She says it with practiced ease, but the fact that she’s alone in the wilderness, weeks away from Arkadia, means that the guilt is eating her up worse than Harper.

A common thread.

“I didn’t see you after…”

Clarke bites her lip. “I left after… I heard about Bellamy.”

Harper knows enough not to push.

“I’m sorry.”

Clarke sighs deeply. “Me too.”

The breeze grows colder on Harper’s neck, the sun slowly crawling towards the horizon.

“I’m glad you survived,” Clarke says eventually.

Harper thinks about the others. A dorm room of forty-six people that didn’t make it. And one besides that mattered more than anything else.

“I don’t know if I am,” she says truthfully.

And Clarke seems to understand more than anyone else.

_ The cage door opens with a slam of metal on metal. Maya helps Harper from the cage and even with her support, Harper almost falls. Her legs feel like stumps and tears prick at the corners of her eyes as her blood starts to circulate again. _

_ “Are we leaving?” she whispers, almost afraid to ask. _

_ “Yes, but we have to be quick.” _

_ They run. Harper’s bare feet begin to warm up as Maya helps her stumble through winding hallways. The lights flicker overhead and, in the distance, there are screams. _

_ “Maya, what…” _

_ Maya pauses at a corner and seems to make a split-second decision as she pulls Harper into an elevator. She punches a number and the elevator begins to shift upwards. _

_ “There’s a lot of fighting,” she says breathlessly. “Just stay close to me and I’ll get you out.” _

_ “The others?” _

_ Maya wets her lips, but doesn’t say anything, keeping her gaze glued to the double doors. _

_ “Maya? The others?” _

_ She turns to Harper, eyes red. “Just let me save you, okay?” _

_ Harper absorbs that in silence and tries not to think. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. _

_ The elevator doors slide open and Maya is all business again. The corridor is quiet as she leads Harper along towards a huge metal door at the end. _

_ Suddenly, the sound of gunfire clatters through the silence. Harper jumps and tries to yank Maya to the floor before she realizes the sound is coming from a radio clipped to Maya’s belt. _

_ A familiar male voice rattles over the static. “Maya! Come in, Maya! I need help! They’re…” Another burst of gunfire cuts over the voice. _

_ Harper blinks, stunned. “Was that… that sounded like Bellamy Blake.” _

_ Maya reaches down and switches the radio off just as Bellamy’s voice starts to yell across the channel for her again. “Harper, please let me save you.” _

_ There are a lot of ways to say I love you, but Harper decides there are none so gut-wrenching as the desperate shine in Maya’s eyes as she grabs Harper’s hand and pulls her firmly to the exit door. _

_ She lets go of Harper’s hand to punch in an override code on the imposing keypad. A red warning light begins flashing as the door mechanisms start unlocking. _

_ Deep breath in. Deep breath out. _

_ Harper pushes back against the panicked churning in her chest and steps closer to Maya. Studying the curve of her neck, the dip of her collarbone, the way the dark curls drift gracefully down her shoulder. _

_ Maya smiles and that’s Harper’s whole world now. It has to be. There is nothing else. _

_ “I love you,” she whispers shakily. She means it, in what little way she can still love. _

_ Maya’s lip trembles. “I love you too.” _

_ The door issues a long whine as the seal is broken and Harper allows herself just a second to imagine what lies beyond. Her people, somewhere out there. A fresh start. A life with Maya, where they can just be happy and forget about all… _

_ Maya chokes. _

_ She falls. _

_ Her skin is covered in blisters. _

_ “No, no, no, no…” _

_ Harper tries to prop her up. “Breathe. Just breathe.” _

_ Deep breath in. Deep breath… _

_ She can’t. Not without her. _

_ Maya struggles against the radiation, body cruelly fighting to stay alive as long as possible. _

_ Harper leans over her, tears falling freely onto her bloodied cheeks. “Why?” _

_ Maya gasps for air, lips moving over and over but the words refusing to come out. A scream without noise. An answer Harper will never hear. _

_ Her breath rattles uselessly in her chest one last time and then she goes still. _

_ The door finishes its long slow opening and Harper sees sunlight. _

Harper slides back behind the wheel with a heavy sigh. She carefully picks up the fallen mp3 player and runs her finger over the faded name on the side.

“I’m sorry.”

Clarke hoists herself into the passenger seat with a grunt and slams the door before turning to Harper with pinched brows.

“Who are you talking to?”

Harper glances at the empty back seat and then starts the engine with a low rumble.

“No one.”

**Author's Note:**

> **“. . . And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate  
>  To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,  
> Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,  
> By help of her more potent ministers,  
> And in her most unmitigable rage,  
> Into a cloven pine; within which rift  
> Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain . . .”  
> Shakespeare - The Tempest ******
> 
> This fic was written for Chopped Madness Round 1!
> 
> Character: Harper McIntyre
> 
> Theme: Angst
> 
> Tropes Used:  
> 1\. Strangers to lovers  
> 2\. Road Trip AU
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and [vote for my fic](https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QM5B5TP) to make it through this round!


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